Joe Higgins MEP: McDonald & Ganley finished!

kevmy

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Higgins has effortlessly landed in the slot where he will never have to take risks or account for himself.

All he will do is push out the old mantra of the "downtrodden worker" and he will have the immediate support of the neanderthals who believe that despite taking no risks, taking no initiatives, and earning €35 per hour in the pay of a semi state or state company ,they are down trodden.

Those are the people he appeals to,and they are many.

Will he ever encourage private investment, entrepreneurship,risk taking and job creation by the small and medium businesses who form the backbone of this countries economy??

NOT A CHANCE.

So those who voted for Joe be proud tonight and wallow in the reflected glory of electing a maverick who will never get anything done, never take even the slightest risk, depend of "the State" to provide for them and who's ambition is to drag the populace down to the lowest level of achievement whilst pumping money into wasters and chronic low achievers happy in the knowledge that inventive thinking will be snuffed out at birth and that the acme of achievement is to lodge in a council house and claim state benefits for the rest of your life.

We can do better than that.

While I don't agree with him on a lot of issues and I am not a socialist in any way. I would never want Joe in government BUT I think as an opposition politician he is very good. He raises issues no one else will touch (some necessary, some unnecessary and some loony) and provides a great voice for some important campaigns.

He called Bertie out when no one else did and his performances in the Dáil highlighted that to the people. He did great work on the issue of migrant workers rights when the Turkish and other non-EU builders were being treated as cheap disposable labour.

I think the bin and water charges were a bit hypocritical considering most of the rest of the country outside of Dublin were paying these. However I think he did essentially invent and popularise the term 'stealth tax' in Irish politics.

livingtargets

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Not so horse......noooot so! Remember it was a EUROPEAN Election

The good citizens who voted for Joe are right now purchasing their nice new grey trakkies and white trainers and are meeting in the local pub to decide on what part of Santa Ponza they will inflict their extended family for the annual holiday..not ALL will buy the grey trakkies..some will go for the white or navy ones with a stripe down the leg.

They have no idea of Europe beyond the confines of whatever Irish pub they decamp to and just see honest Joe as an anti establishment figure who might just get them a rent allowance, medical card or early release.

The lisburn treaty.....huh ? whats that pal......freek all to do with me ... I'm just a workin man......

My dad(not a Socialist by any stretch of the word!)voted for Joe and he`s a fireman and spends much of his week pulling dead bodies out of cars in the middle of the night,yet still he must pay a pension levy for the mistakes of the rich .
My mam voted for Joe and she`s a nurse in a local hospital that cares for people with special needs.
My brother voted for Joe and he`s in college,and campaigns against the reintroduction of fees.
THESE are "The good citizens who voted for Joe".

Comments like yours just expose your own stupidity and dated classist views.Please stop embarrassing yourself.

ajax147

yol have too start listening abit more regular then,than every few months

Fulton Crown

livingtargets wrote: »

My dad(not a Socialist by any stretch of the word!)voted for Joe and he`s a fireman and spends much of his week pulling dead bodies out of cars in the middle of the night,yet still he must pay a pension levy for the mistakes of the rich .
My mam voted for Joe and she`s a nurse in a local hospital that cares for people with special needs.
My brother voted for Joe and he`s in college,and campaigns against the reintroduction of fees.
THESE are "The good citizens who voted for Joe".

Comments like yours just expose your own stupidity and dated classist views.Please stop embarrassing yourself.

Not embarrassed at all horse - just telling it as it is.

Look ! The country is in a mess - not because of"the mistakes of the rich" but because of continued gross incompetance by our politiicians, abject failure of our regulatory authorities allied to a world wide depression.

These are the facts.

Another fact is that there is a daily gap between income and expenditure of something like 25 million euro.

The only place this money can come from is extra tax revenue / cutting expenditure.

The result of this in the private sector is that companies are closing down on a daily basis and people - sometimes both breadwinners - are being left with no jobs.

In the public sector where there is relatively secure employment and generous pension allowances - people are being asked to pay extra to share the burden.

I left college some years ago and had no trouble supporting myself, paying the various fees etc and having a dammed good time into the bargain.

I accept it may be somewhat different now - but surely not impossible ?

I have every respect for the occupations you describe but surely voting for a socialist in a EUROPEAN election on the basis you set out is puzzling to say the least.

Look pal I fully accept the Government made a complete mess of the economy - which was built on sand anyways - the bankers and regulatory people dipped their snouts in the trough and filled their bloated guts - and bank balances.

But these are the cards we are being dealt - like it or not - we have to play the hand as best we can.

Voting for a clown like like Higgins is not the way to play it..not in Europe.

Nodin

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Look ! The country is in a mess - not because of"the mistakes of the rich" but because of continued gross incompetance by our politiicians, abject failure of our regulatory authorities allied to a world wide depression..

While 'mistakes of the Rich' is a gross over-simplification, the fact is that the decisions of a few have had a massive effect, with seemingly no penalty for failure. Take for example, the whole Anglo debacle, an institution run by, as Gene Kerrigan in the (poxy) Sindo put it "a small, tight cabal of deluded, incompetent gobshites with a too-high opinion of themselves". This is not far off the mark with a number of these places, here and abroad. Unless theres a stop to this kind of thing, with clear transparent action taken, you can prepare yourself for a lot more of Joe and his buddies.

Fulton Crown

Nodin wrote: »

While 'mistakes of the Rich' is a gross over-simplification, the fact is that the decisions of a few have had a massive effect, with seemingly no penalty for failure.
Take for example, the whole Anglo debacle, an institution run by, as Gene Kerrigan in the (poxy) Sindo put it "a small, tight cabal of deluded, incompetent gobshites with a too-high opinion of themselves". This is not far off the mark with a number of these places, here and abroad. Unless theres a stop to this kind of thing, with clear transparent action taken, you can prepare yourself for a lot more of Joe and his buddies.

Thanks for the warning pal - but I really don't need it.

I do agree with your point re Anglo however - I would also add the adjective "Greedy" to the ones mentioned above.

Don't "take" the Sindo -prefer Kittensoft - but I am puzzled that the media have placed so little emphasis on what seems to be an abject regulatory failure - both in the Regulators office AND in the Dept.of Finance.

On the other hand they may have been giving the warnings but being ignored by their political masters.

A more lasting damage that these clowns may have done is paving the way for Higgins / Daly and their ilk foist their failed nanny state politics on us.

Only a short step from them to the Shinners......:eek:

gizmo555

kevmy wrote: »

He called Bertie out when no one else did and his performances in the Dáil highlighted that to the people. He did great work on the issue of migrant workers rights when the Turkish and other non-EU builders were being treated as cheap disposable labour.

+1

Remember Conor Lenihan's scandalous description of Turkish workers for Gama as "kebabs" in a Dáil debate with Joe Higgins? Bertie must have a truly black sense of humour, appointing a muppet like that as Minister of State with responsibility for Integration Policy . . .

Nodin

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Thanks for the warning pal -

I'm not your 'pal', and I'd appreciate it if you refrained from altering quotes, with the exception of snipping down to the appropriate section.

Fulton Crown wrote: »

what seems to be an abject regulatory failure - both in the Regulators office AND in the Dept.of Finance.

There are tapes extant of converstations between Fitzpatrick and both the financial regulator and the department of finance with regards to his intentions over the 'Golden circle' and other matters. These apparently contain tacit approval for some of his actions from both parties - "fair play to you, Sean" being a quote attributed to one of them, when Mr Fitzpatrick allegedly announced that he might "massage" the books. As this is all now a subject of Garda investigation, I'd imagine we won't hear the full story of things for a few months.

As regards the overinvestment in property development, did the regulator have any statutory power to stop it? Did the Department?

PopeBuckfastXVI

Nodin wrote: »

As regards the overinvestment in property development, did the regulator have any statutory power to stop it? Did the Department?

I think only 'we the people' were the ones with the power to stop it.

It grates against me hearing about how it's all the banks fault, and so unfair people have to pay more taxes, when plenty of Guards, Teachers etc. were out buying second homes, helping to drive the property bubble outwards and upwards.

Of course other professions were mopping up houses aswell, but I often hear public sector unions claiming total innocence of public sector workers in the whole affair.

Nodin

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

I think only 'we the people' were the ones with the power to stop it.

Most of us had no clue it was going on. I favoured regulation of the property market because I thought that becoming a home-owner involved becoming far too indebted for the person on the average wage in the private sector (eg me).

djpbarry

wildswan wrote: »

It would be a disgrace to pay water rates in this country. It would be a bit like paying for sand in a desert!

Yeah, because clean drinking water doesn’t cost anything to produce.

CiaranC wrote: »

Lisbon treaty nay-sayers dont understand Lisbon...

Most don’t, by their own admission.

wildswan wrote: »

Too many people bash socialists as loony left/commies/etc.

I think it’s Higgins who is being bashed (rather than all socialists), because he is a loony lefty.

Vyse wrote: »

Most people are disillusioned with the politics with countless talk of corruption and nepotism. In the midst of all this Joe Higgins seems like a breath of fresh air.

In a country crippled by a bloated public sector and massive welfare expenditure, how exactly is Joe Higgins a “breath of fresh air”?

livingtargets wrote: »

Comments like yours just expose your own stupidity and dated classist views.

Once again I’d point out that Higgins’ comments are often classist (and often quite offensive, in my opinion).

Nodin wrote: »

I favoured regulation of the property market because I thought that becoming a home-owner involved becoming far too indebted for the person on the average wage in the private sector (eg me).

Unfortunately a very large number of people in this country were quite happy to get themselves into as much debt as the banks would loan them, but it seems this fact is consistently overlooked by the likes of Higgins.

Nodin

djpbarry wrote: »

Unfortunately a very large number of people in this country were quite happy to get themselves into as much debt as the banks would loan them, but it seems this fact is consistently overlooked by the likes of Higgins.

It became the culture. Then again, it became virtually impossible to fund home ownership without incurring such. It all becomes a bit 'chicken and egg'. It's clear however, that no overview was taken (or if it was, no action was made on it).

Dr Galen

djpbarry wrote: »

Unfortunately a very large number of people in this country were quite happy to get themselves into as much debt as the banks would loan them, but it seems this fact is consistently overlooked by the likes of Higgins.

i haven't heard Joe Higgins, once, talk about the complete lack of personal responsibility that was so common here over the past few years. Your totally right, people were happy to take the extensions on the credit cards, the loans for expensive holidays (wtf) and the 100% life long mortgages on box sized appartments in Laois when they were going, without stopping to think what might happen in the future.

Vyse

djpbarry wrote: »

In a country crippled by a bloated public sector and massive welfare expenditure, how exactly is Joe Higgins a “breath of fresh air”?

I was refering to his integrity and honesty. Thought that was obvious enough.

USE

Ganley bows out of politics as Kelly sees off Sinnott

Conceding defeat tonight, Mr Ganley said: “I will not be involved in the second Lisbon campaign, I’ve said that upfront. I’ve got to get back to work,” he said.

“I sought a democratic mandate and I didn’t get one, and that’s how democracy works. And as I said I can take no for an answer.”

Mr Ganley was speaking outside the count centre, the TF Royal Theatre in Castlebar, where he was asked if Libertas would continue.

He said: “We’ll see, I mean that’s something that we’ll discuss. There are very many thousands and thousands of people involved in Libertas across the European Union. We’ll all be discussing that internally and they’ll decide what we do next.”

Source.

Sorry if this was already posted somewhere.

Rabble

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

I think only 'we the people' were the ones with the power to stop it.

It grates against me hearing about how it's all the banks fault, and so unfair people have to pay more taxes, when plenty of Guards, Teachers etc. were out buying second homes, helping to drive the property bubble outwards and upwards.

Of course other professions were mopping up houses aswell, but I often hear public sector unions claiming total innocence of public sector workers in the whole affair.

This is getting Off Topic but ..
I dont think that the crisis is ALL the Banks fault BUT they were the ones giving 100% / 40 year mortgages of multipliers of 5, 6, 7 times people's salaries. They made the mistake of overlending and it was wrong to bail them out. True capitalism is about letting the market sought it out. The banks were the cheerleaders of unfettered financial markets and as soon as they were in trouble they went cap in hand to the taxpayer.

You're not a banker are you?

PopeBuckfastXVI

Rabble wrote: »

This is getting Off Topic but ..
I dont think that the crisis is ALL the Banks fault BUT they were the ones giving 100% / 40 year mortgages of multipliers of 5, 6, 7 times people's salaries. They made the mistake of overlending and it was wrong to bail them out. True capitalism is about letting the market sought it out. The banks were the cheerleaders of unfettered financial markets and as soon as they were in trouble they went cap in hand to the taxpayer.

You're not a banker are you?

No I'm not, and I think Anglo should have been let go to the wall, and take the developers with them. I'm against any bailouts for AIB/BOI without full nationalisation.

However I'm also against any bailouts for people who threw themselves up to their necks in debt to get a slice of the property pie, including people who overextended themselves to buy a principle private residence.

For every one of them willing to bite the banks hand off they were keeping someone financially responsible locked out of home ownership.

I didn't engage in the madness of the crowd, I rented, and I resent any implication that those who overextended themselves should be absolved of their share of blame for the whole mess, especially when it's my taxes that would be bailing them out.

As regards the Public Sector, they creamed off the private sector with benchmarking for years, so they can suck it up now that we can't afford to pay for them anymore.

K-9

Rabble wrote: »

You're not a banker are you?

Thems fighting words!

Rabble

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

No I'm not, and I think Anglo should have been let go to the wall, and take the developers with them. I'm against any bailouts for AIB/BOI without full nationalisation.

However I'm also against any bailouts for people who threw themselves up to their necks in debt to get a slice of the property pie, including people who overextended themselves to buy a principle private residence.

For every one of them willing to bite the banks hand off they were keeping someone financially responsible locked out of home ownership.

I didn't engage in the madness of the crowd, I rented, and I resent any implication that those who overextended themselves should be absolved of their share of blame for the whole mess, especially when it's my taxes that would be bailing them out.

As regards the Public Sector, they creamed off the private sector with benchmarking for years, so they can suck it up now that we can't afford to pay for them anymore.

I agree with you about the banks total public ownership without compensation and no bail outs.

I wasnt aware that there were any bailouts available for people with mortgages. Cant imagine that being put in any budget soon!

Nelson Muntz

Very happy that Ganley missed out. Mary Lou should have done more than just show up to every photo op alongside Gerry Adams. Maybe she should have gone to Brussels a bit more often.

As for Joe, meh, who cares. It is easy to bang the desk about "de workers" & banks blah blah. It is even easier when you know that you will never have to balance a budget based on your ideas.

PopeBuckfastXVI

Rabble wrote: »

I wasnt aware that there were any bailouts available for people with mortgages. Cant imagine that being put in any budget soon!

There's been plenty of talk about 'debt forgiveness' on the likes of Vincent Browne and Joe Duffy, but yep thankfully it doesn't look likely to become government policy.

It also sort of covers the moaners who took part in the madness and heap *all* the blame on the banks though.

asdasd

Is Joe Higgins pro-EU? What ever happened to fashionable left wing ideology which was against the EU during the 80's. It being a capitalist hegemon etc.

PopeBuckfastXVI

asdasd wrote: »

Is Joe Higgins pro-EU? What ever happened to fashionable left wing ideology which was against the EU during the 80's. It being a capitalist hegemon etc.

He claims he's pro-EU, but not in it's current form.

Perhaps if they moved the supreme soviet parliament to Moscow...

asdasd

Still though I wouldve voted for the guy, despite his policies, because a good opposition is important and he supplied that in the Dail, with little support.

P. Breathnach

PopeBuckfastXVI wrote: »

He claims he's pro-EU, but not in it's current form...

That's the standard Irish verbal formulation of Euroscepticism.

Fulton Crown

Nodin wrote: »

I'm not your 'pal', and I'd appreciate it if you refrained from altering quotes, with the exception of snipping down to the appropriate section.



There are tapes extant of converstations between Fitzpatrick and both the financial regulator and the department of finance with regards to his intentions over the 'Golden circle' and other matters. These apparently contain tacit approval for some of his actions from both parties - "fair play to you, Sean" being a quote attributed to one of them, when Mr Fitzpatrick allegedly announced that he might "massage" the books. As this is all now a subject of Garda investigation, I'd imagine we won't hear the full story of things for a few months.

As regards the overinvestment in property development, did the regulator have any statutory power to stop it? Did the Department?

Very sorry my friend truly I am - I had no idea I had no idea that you were so preciousabout your posts,,but I can understand.

I have a little neice with the same issue - won't allow anyone to interfere with her crayon "Pictures" - cries and cries and stamps her little feet !

Thankfully things are improving and she seems to be getting over it now.

She has just had her 2nd birthday !

So ! Now that that's sorted - where were we ?

Ah! Uncle Joseph !! The "thinking skangers politician" as some have described him.

I have no doubt that some decent people voted for him - but to vote a guy into Europe on stuff like income levies an college fees...I'm well .....nonplussed

Watch for the guy poppin up on every TV talk show to peddle his leftie views
and playin the Mr Deeds backwoodsman role over in Brussels.

That's the way The Crown calls it anyways.

Scofflaw

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Very sorry my friend truly I am - I had no idea I had no idea that you were so preciousabout your posts,,but I can understand.

I have a little neice with the same issue - won't allow anyone to interfere with her crayon "Pictures" - cries and cries and stamps her little feet !

Thankfully things are improving and she seems to be getting over it now.

She has just had her 2nd birthday !

So ! Now that that's sorted - where were we ?

Ah! Uncle Joseph !! The "thinking skangers politician" as some have described him.

I have no doubt that some decent people voted for him - but to vote a guy into Europe on stuff like income levies an college fees...I'm well .....nonplussed

Watch for the guy poppin up on every TV talk show to peddle his leftie views
and playin the Mr Deeds backwoodsman role over in Brussels.

That's the way The Crown calls it anyways.

If the Crown doesn't refrain from engaging in slagging posters rather than posts, the Crown will be calling it elsewhere.

moderately,
Scofflaw

Permabear

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livingtargets

Fulton Crown wrote: »

Ah! Uncle Joseph !! The "thinking skangers politician" as some have described him.

I have no doubt that some decent people voted for him - but to vote a guy into Europe on stuff like income levies an college fees...I'm well .....nonplussed
.

"thinking skangers politician".

Once again you insult the people who voted Joe by dismissing them as "silly peasants".As a matter of interest,who did you vote for?

"to vote a guy into Europe on stuff like income levies an college fees...I'm well .....nonplussed"

They voted Joe because they certainly weren`t going to vote for the same party of chancers who have the cheek not only to ask people to put up with levies and fees,but to then ask the very same people they have attacked to send them to Europe.Nothing too confusing about that,in my opinion.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.